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Subaru built a one-off WRX STI performance car and stuffed it in an all-new 2.3-liter 862 horsepower Boxer engine under the hood. Subaru of America just released information about the vehicle that will be Travis Pastrana’s STI in the Gymkhana 2020. Is it a test of a new 2.3-liter engine for the next-generation STI set to launch in 2022?
The car and the 862 horsepower Boxer engine was purpose-built by Subaru Motorsports USA and technical partner Vermont SportsCar. Subaru does not have a 2.3-liter turbocharged Boxer engine in any of its cars. We are speculating it could be a new powerplant for the all-new 2022 Subaru STI.
Reports from many sources say the next-generation Subaru STI will be powered by the Ascent-sourced 2.4-liter Boxer with plenty of Subaru Tecnica International upgraded internals to produce close to 400 horsepower.
Subaru used Travis Pastrana’s new WRX STI for stunt sequences with planes, boats, action sports athletes, and significant Annapolis landmarks. The first was a high-flying gap jump over Annapolis’ famous Ego Alley waterway, with Pastrana’s STI soaring over a racing speedboat.
Subaru says they started with a production Subaru WRX STI shell. The car was fully caged and lightened to just 2,623 pounds. That’s over 800 pounds lighter than a stock STI, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 3.0 lb/hp.
We are speculating Subaru would use the 2.4-liter turbocharged engine in the 2022 WRX and possibly the all-new 2.3-liter turbocharged Boxer in the STI. This new engine would give separation to the two performance models, like the current generation.
The Gymkhana STI is the perfect car to test the new powerplant’s reliability and performance capabilities. It gives Subaru plenty of time to tweak the engine before the launch of the next-generation model.
While the new 862 horsepower Subaru Gymkhana STI won’t resemble the 2022 Subaru WRX STI production car, we speculate the 2.3-liter engine could be a first reveal of the new STI’s engine. Stay tuned.
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Denis Flierl has invested over 30 years in the automotive industry in a consulting role working with every major car brand. He is an accredited member of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press. Check out Subaru Report where he covers all of the Japanese automaker's models. More stories can be found on the Torque News Subaru page. Follow Denis on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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Comments
The engine used in this
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The engine used in this vehicle is an EJ based engine, not an FA like the ones used in the Ascent or BRZ. (This was shown in the Hoonigan video doing an overview of the car) I doubt Subaru is going to use the EJ for yet another generation of STI.
Exactly, apparently these
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In reply to The engine used in this by Dan (not verified)
Exactly, apparently these people didn't do there research, so much for true journalism. If they did they would know it had a 99.5 bore, stock ej25 bore size, and they even said a wrc 2.0L crank coming out to a 2.3L. It's essentially a destroked ej25. Also it's using a timing belt (ej), not a timing chain (fa). Another thing is it was stated as a 2.3L while everything that has been said so far is that the next STI will be using a fa24, 2.4L
On the hoonigan youtube
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On the hoonigan youtube channel they did an in-depth walkthrough on the car and share that the powerplant is billet EJ 2.0 liter that was bored out to 2.3 pulled from the rally cross series.
Actually the billet block was
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In reply to On the hoonigan youtube by Adam jata (not verified)
Actually the billet block was based on the ej25, hence the 99.5mm bore, factory ej25 bore size, and they used a wrc 2.0L crank. It is common for some to destroke there ej25 with a ej20 crank which gives them 2.3L. It has been known for some to do this in the subaru community, a lot of pros to doing it. I know it sounds weird for one to want to reduce liter size but it has its benefits and its place.
I believe it was stroked to 2
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In reply to On the hoonigan youtube by Adam jata (not verified)
I believe it was stroked to 2.3L as opposed to bored.. but yes you are correct that it is not an "all new" engine as stated in this article. The '22 STI will have a tweaked FA24.
They said in the hoonigan
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They said in the hoonigan breakdown on youtube that it's a bored out EJ20 motor from the Japanese market sti with modified heads that have no head gasket and a carbon fiber intake manifold. So sick
The car was built using the
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The car was built using the billet block from Vermont sports cars rally class which is a 2.0 then bored and stroked to 2.3 .
There is a full build video on hoonigans YouTube page . Right around the 7 min mark is where they discuss the engine .
Lol, no. Go watch the build
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Lol, no. Go watch the build video. It's a 2 litre block bored and stroked to 2.3 on race gas. Fully custom from Vermont Sports Car, the US rally team shop.
This car was covered on
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This car was covered on Hoonigan Build Biology on YouTube. The answer to any speculation would be no.
So glad I'm not the only
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So glad I'm not the only person that realized this writers total lack of actual research on vermont sports car's (not Subaru's) built STi. Go do some real research and rewrite this you lazy lazy person.
You are getting roasted;
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You are getting roasted; deservedly so as you obviously didn’t do your research.
Your 2.3 displacement guess may turn out to be correct but—as EVERYONE else in the world seems to know—this was based on the EJ platform, not the Ascent’s FA.
Very misleading article title
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Very misleading article title. The article itself has little to no useful information. Go watch the Hoonigan YouTube channel if you actually want to know more about the motor in the car. They do an awesome overview of it. This was a joke piece.
They literally said in a
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They literally said in a video that it's an EJ not an FA
No, they didn't. Click bait
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No, they didn't. Click bait article. The 2.3 can be an overbored engine based on the EJ207 motors. There is also a 2.3 Subaru engine based off the 2.5 that has been destroked. This engine is likely the destroked EJ257 to handle 50 freaking lbs of boost. Just look up PBMS and Maxwell Power